“Absolutely delighted”- Ally McCoist waxes lyrical about 20-year-old Chelsea youngster

Former Rangers star Ally McCoist gives a glowing verdict of Chelsea youngster Billy Gilmour

Speaking to Daily Record, Ally McCoist revealed that he was a big fan of Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour. The former Sunderland man believes that the 20-year-old could be a top player one day.

Gilmour seems to be having a difficult time in his current loan spell at Norwich City struggling to cement a starting position despite the Canaries languishing at the bottom end of the table. The international break would have brought him some joy as he played a pivotal role for the Tartan Army in the middle of the pitch alongside Callum McGregor and John McGinn.

The 20-year-old has shown great potential in the past couple of seasons with the Blues as and when provided with an opportunity. Whilst a loan move is usually the best way to give your younger players some regular first-team minutes, things haven’t exactly gone in his favour.

Former Rangers star Ally McCoist gives a glowing verdict of Chelsea youngster Billy Gilmour. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Ally McCoist was full of praise for Chelsea youngster Billy Gilmour. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

In conversation with Daily Record, the 59-year-old showered his praise on Billy Gilmour stating that the Chelsea midfielder has shown great progress and could go on to achieve great things.

“I’m a massive Billy Gilmour fan. I’ve known Billy for a long, long time – I’ve just been absolutely delighted to watch his progress coming through. He’s going to be a top player, he really is. There was a little period when he went to Norwich and people thought the move wasn’t beneficial to him or Norwich.”

Billy Gilmour and the path ahead

Cobham has produced some of the finest youngsters in the last few years. While the club has largely let go of many of them for a significant fee only a handful of them have cemented their place in the first team. Gilmour has shown the potential to be a top player and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for him.

The 20-year-old is a sturdy presence in the middle of the park and provides an assuring presence ahead of the backline. The Chelsea youngster has already made 11 appearances for the Scottish national team so far and is slowly starting to cement a regular position in Steve Clarke’s side.

Former Rangers star Ally McCoist gives a glowing verdict of Chelsea youngster Billy Gilmour.  (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
Billy Gilmour is having a difficult loan spell at Norwich City right now (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)

This goes to show the calibre that the young man possesses and the Stamford Bridge could have a genuine gem on its hands. With the likes of Jorginho and N’Golo Kante entering their 30s, the club could do well to future-proof the midfielder, and Gilmour sounds like an ideal option should he be able to deliver the kind of displays that he is showing with the national side on a regular basis.

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The club could probably send him on another loan or even try to integrate him into the first team slowly by providing the 20-year-old with some opportunities to strut his stuff in domestic competitions. That being said, many of our supporters would echo the same sentiments as Ally McCoist with regards to Billy Gilmour and hopefully, the young lad can one day become an integral part of our midfield.